Some people simply fail to see the writing on the wall.
I'll admit to being the Great Picker of Nits here, but seriously, you need a new crutch phrase.
The "writing on the wall" cliché comes from the OT prophet Daniel, chapter five of his book which describes the events at Belshazzar's feast. At that time, the son of Nebuchadnezzar was throwing yet another drunken orgy highlighted by his guests and their whores swigging booze from the confiscated Temple vessels and praising the gods of gold and silver (from which the Temple articles were fashioned). This offense exceeds photographing a crucifix in a container of urine, or burning a holy book, and is more in line with sodomy in the Ark of the Covenant.
The hand writing on the wall did not go undetected, but was instantly noticed by the thousands in the room, with the greatest reaction by the intended recipient, the king. The party immediately ended as the king physically broke down and cried for the astrologers, magicians and soothsayers to come in immediately and offer an interpretation with the reward of one third of the kingdom.
The message was one of Holy Judgment against the nation and Belshazzar was dead before sunrise. Powerful message from the Almighty Creator regarding profound desecration of items from His Temple for Worship to Him, producing a world changing response and the death of the world's strongest leader and break-up of the world's most powerful nation, leading to a story still being told and preached with awe thousands of years later by people all over the world.
Now how exactly do the victimized white farmers fit into that context so that this cliché has any meaning? I hate seeing powerful Biblical imagery profaned in such a way where powerful world changing judgment is being misapplied to the victims of some petty godless dictator.
The phrase 'the writing on the wall' has come to signify a portent of doom, or the end of an organization or activity. To attribute to someone the ability to "read the writing on the wall" has come to signify the ability to foresee (not necessarily supernaturally) an inevitable decline and end.